Part Clipping?

[Gavin786]

I see a lot of ppl talking about part clipping as being a problem.

I have just started playing KSP(and really love it) and never noticed it nor do I really know what it is ?

What is part clipping and is it still a thing in the game?

Gavin786

[bewing]

Part clipping is when you have two parts on your craft occupying the same space. Generally because you built it that way in the VAB/SPH.

In some old versions of the game it was definitely a problem, because the parts would tend to repel each other and explode.

In all the recent versions of the game, however, no two parts on a single craft can collide with each other. They always pass through each other harmlessly -- like ghost parts. If you decouple a docked craft from another craft and there were clipped parts, then those clipped parts will probably explode as soon as you decouple -- because now they are suddenly not part of the same craft.

The only current issue with clipping is that some players consider it to not be aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Dafni]

4 hours ago, bewing said:

... some players consider it to not be aesthetically pleasing.

 

and for some other players part clipping is essential to build aesthetically pleasing craft at all.

 

[Geonovast]

4 hours ago, bewing said:

The only current issue with clipping is that some players consider it to not be aesthetically pleasing.

 

17 minutes ago, Dafni said:

and for some other players part clipping is essential to build aesthetically pleasing craft at all.

 

 

I'm all for clipping, as long as it makes sense.  Purely structural parts, clip away, doesn't matter.  But when you get stuff like fuel tanks and habitable areas clipping together, or fuel tanks overlapping where they're holding an impossible amount of fuel, it becomes a problem.

No amount of clipping when it comes to moving parts is acceptable for my builds.  I frequently see crafts where landing gear magically appear out of fuselages, or extended solar panels spinning through nearby parts, and it legit bothers me.  I've reverted entire missions because I noticed that I accidentally had the corner of a solar panel clip a pixel or through through the ship.

I will not use the 3x2 retractable solar panel.  It actually clips through its own cover.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Geonovast

[Dafni]

5 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

 

I will not use the 3x2 retractable solar panel.  It actually clips through its own cover.

Oh, I never noticed this. Havent used this part in ages. Bothers me just looking at your gif. What an eyesore. Obviously an oversight of the devs.

[Jestersage]

12 hours ago, bewing said:

In all the recent versions of the game, however, no two parts on a single craft can collide with each other. They always pass through each other harmlessly -- like ghost parts. If you decouple a docked craft from another craft and there were clipped parts, then those clipped parts will probably explode as soon as you decouple -- because now they are suddenly not part of the same craft.

The only current issue with clipping is that some players consider it to not be aesthetically pleasing.

  

Except parts within the Engine plate. I still cannot find the parameter, but I know that parts under engine plates and clip to each other will rotate violently.

[bewing]

2 hours ago, Jestersage said:

Except parts within the Engine plate. I still cannot find the parameter, but I know that parts under engine plates and clip to each other will rotate violently.

Yeah, well, I'm pretty confident that's a bug that will get fixed sometime.

[Jestersage]

31 minutes ago, bewing said:

Yeah, well, I'm pretty confident that's a bug that will get fixed sometime.

Oh, thought that was intended.

[sturmhauke]

I try to avoid excessive clipping most of the time, such as stacking multiple engines or fuel tanks into the same space. A little bit here and there is unavoidable, and in some cases improves the appearance of the craft.

But when it comes to things like the Air Superiority Fighter Competiton, all bets are off. Clip or die!

[Superfluous J]

12 hours ago, Geonovast said:

No amount of clipping when it comes to moving parts is acceptable for my builds.  I frequently see crafts where landing gear magically appear out of fuselages, or extended solar panels spinning through nearby parts, and it legit bothers me.

For an alternate viewpoint, I have no problem clipping moving parts, or clipping ANY parts so long as I could imagine a clever engineer redesigning the parts so they could be put together that way without clipping.

Two fuel tanks? No way. Landing gear inside a fuel tank? You betcha.